AMD increases top speed of Duran to 1.2 GHz

SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- Advanced Micro Devices Inc. today announced it has bumped up the speed of its fastest Duron microprocessor to a frequency of 1.2 GHz. The new PC central processing unit is priced at $103 each in quantities of 1,000.

Personal computers featuring the 1.2-GHz Duron are expected to be available by the end of the year worldwide, said the Sunnyvale company. Previously, AMD's fastest Duron processor operated at 1.1 GHz.

AMD said a 1.2-GHz Duron-based PC with double-data rate (DDR) memory "substantially outperforms" a 1.2-GHz Intel Celeron-based system with SDRAM when using 3-D gaming benchmarks. AMD also claimed that a 1.2-GHz Duron-based system will provide up to a 13% performance advantage vs. a 1.4-GHz Pentium 4-based computer with SDRAM, when running office productivity software and digital media applications.